Michael A. De Leon is a graphic designer by day, but wears many hats in his off time. In 2004, after several years of covering the Spurs, he started Project Spurs, a Spurs team fansite as an outlet to provide content to Spurs fans, while continuing to write for himself and learning the ins and outs of online publishing and web design. He has since built a writing team and started a popular weekly Spurs podcast called the Spurscast.

Note: This is an mySA.com City Brights Blog. These blogs are not written or edited by mySA or the San Antonio Express-News. The authors are solely responsible for the content.

I Love My Spurs

I have a Spurs tattoo on my upper left shoulder. And it is perhaps my favorite tattoo. And whenever someone sees it, they always say one of two things:

1.”Dude, you really love the Spurs.” Or they say…

2.”It’s Just a basketball team.”

To the first, I reply with a simple yes. Yes, I love my Spurs. But the second statement has no simple answer, because if you’re from San Antonio, then you know the Spurs are more than a basketball team. They are more than 82 games a season. They are more than the four championship banners hanging in the rafters of the AT&T Center. The Spurs are a part of our community, and also a part of our culture.

It’s hard to describe exactly how much the Spurs mean to San Antonio. It’s really something that has to be seen with your own eyes. Almost every car or truck has a Spurs sticker or emblem. And no matter what bar or restaurant you walk into here in San Antonio, I guarantee you’ll see multiple people in Spurs gear. We Spurs fans are proud fans and have an undying loyalty to the Silver and Black, a loyalty that will never be broken. Let me give you an example of how loyal Spurs fans are.

My friend Matt and I went downtown a couple nights ago to watch the end of the Spurs-Knicks game. While venturing through the Riverwalk, Matt ran across a longtime friend and another guy he was with. So we all walked into the next bar we saw and sat right in front of the television. There were Duncan and Ginobili jerseys all around us, and I was beginning to feel right at home when all of a sudden the guy that Matt knew said something that shocked and appalled me.

He said, “I hate the Spurs.” I quickly turned my head, said a couple profane words, and proceeded to ask this guy where he was from. And of course he said the one thing that Spurs fans hate more than the 0.4 Dereck Fisher shot. He said, “I’m from Dallas.”

As soon as he said Dallas, I had to stop myself from gagging. I couldn’t believe I was sitting at a bar and drinking beers with a Mavericks fan, in my Wake Forest Tim Duncan jersey nonetheless. I felt dirty. I felt lied to. So I stood up, looked him straight in the eye and said, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry Dwayne Wade has your ring. I’m sorry you have a seven footer who’s scared of posting up, and I’m sorry you’ll never hoist a championship banner in the American Airlines Arena, ever.”

Everybody’s jaw dropped. I looked at my friend Matt and he couldn’t believe it. And before Mavs guy could say anything, I walked out. No good-byes, no see you laters, nothing. And it felt good. Actually, it felt great. I walked around downtown that night with my shoulders back and my head high, because I felt like I had not only defended my beloved Spurs, but my beautiful city.